About

Do you like the games that stimuli constant imagination and group interaction? Or the ones where you get in touch with your mind to quietly strategize your next moves? How about the ones that involve the chance factor more than the strategy?

When you add mind reading, telepathic/intuitive guessing along with some poker face skills to all the things mentioned above; you get Balzie the Cat as the result of that mix. A game of many interactive outcomes with a unique design. A Kickstarter exclusive project; 51-cards of ever.fun.game.

Balzie the cat

Balzie the cat is a game designed to present a fun game-play with its specifically designed simplicity; a project that's exclusive for Kickstarter only. I always tend to like the games that stimuli the imagination and keep the constant interaction of the group rather than fix and dictated game play and game outcomes. In Balzie the Cat, this is what we aimed to do and can proudly say that we have accomplished it by looking how much fun we had at our trial runs. (We have tested it with 16 people so far)

Created by me in Canada, I have teamed up with Sharon - a great artist from the USA to handle the art design part of the game. We got a true North American collaboration as a result and a fun game to be enjoyed.

Ever.Fun.Game

The Idea / Philosophy behind Balzie the cat

The idea of Balzie the Cat came very unexpectedly, that is while watching a TV show. It's interesting because I was more busy with writing a book that I was intended to finish for my own pleasure, my day job and the things between we have in our lives rather than starting on a game project.

My writings being mostly about spiritual nature, I took this as a spiritual thought and worked up on the idea that ''how much control we have in our lives?" and mixed it with some games I have played before.(Such as Who got the king?) We started to play this game without a name and without organ parts/point system; a much simpler form than how it is now. After trying this mix with some of my friends, we had so much fun. I added organ parts and the point system. Not long after some of them suggested that I should do a Kickstarter campaign and share this game with others. I took up the suggestion and having no design skills of my own, met and teamed up with a very talented artist, Sharon. She did an amazing work in creating the art design part of the game as well as cooperating in the creation process with other aspects to improve the overall game quality. So here we are with my first time Kickstarter project; Balzie the Cat!

Time for mind reading and wild guessing!

Simplifying all the complexity of luck, possibilities and skills (mostly social) with a unique simple design brings you maximum interaction with your friends! If you have mind reading, telepathic and poker face skills, those might be really helpful for you in this game! (Not so much telepathy tho, that might spoil the fun!) And if you have non of those skills, then you can just start working on them!

Some ideas to play Balzie the Cat;

♦ At home with your family, friends, etc...

♦ At the office as a refresher. Some laughs and group interaction will surely add to the productivity and creativity

♦ Parks, school, cottage, anywhere where you'll have a group of people to play with

♦ Even though it wasn't our intention to make this an educational game for kids; still it could be used to teach them organizing the body parts of a cat and very simple numerical.

♦ List could go even more, up to you and your ideas

Do you believe in power of attraction?

In the midst of our more and more complex lives, Balzie the cat comes for relief to show that no matter how much you want to control the outcomes, still the luck,chance and other factors that we hadn't guessed or foreseen affect our goals and lives in general. This is the very core idea for Balzie the Cat and its philosophy which made us create this game with more joy and excitement.

Game's Overview

There are different options and routes a player can take to finish each round; eventually the game. The different routes a player can take at any round in this card picking game are explained in details in the illustration below;

A tip: You might attract what you don't want!

So, to wrap up the point system;

*A risky and challenging one for the risk-lovers which gives the highest point of the game. If you gather any 4 missing parts of the same organ, you get +4 points for that round. Determination surely pays off!

*Bonus organ, eyes. If you are lucky enough to get the 2 missing parts of the eyes you get +1 point for that round. Luck is on your side!

*A neutral one that is safe. Any 2 missing parts of the same organ gets you 0 point for that round. Safe and sound yet no gain, no loss.

*The balls (penalty card). Who ever ends up with the "balls" at the end of the round gets -2 points for that round. Luck is a two-edged sword huh?

Standard poker size cards, 2.5" x 3.5"

Game play

No matter what your strategy is, the fact that everyone is picking a card from their left hand side player causes many cards to circulate around the table. This effects everyone's plans, for some in a good way and for some others in a bad way. Here comes the Hannibal effect though. If you have the balls (Balzie's, of course), can you hide it from your expressions or can you read others for clues, if they have it or not? Can you tell who got it? Can you feel the card you want to get? Can you attract it to you?

An example organ set (Yes, whiskers are an organ!)

There are tons of different possibilities and combinations for the cards dealt in each hand, each player's strategy/choice and the result of those actions that my math skills are not good enough to even start calculating the possibilities. Well, simply put; keep the balls away!

350 gsm art paper

We'll use 350 gsm high quality art paper for the cards, as well as for the box. So you can feel the same, fresh out of the box touch after countless rounds of playing. Every deck of Balzie the Cat comes with 51 standard poker size cards along with 2 additional spare cards in case if you lose any. Also there is an instructional card for the rules and a list of our 21 ultimate supporters.

Ultimate fireworks?

Even though we take pride in simplicity and luck factor of Balzie the Cat in creating tons of fun outcomes; still it's not that simple just like any gambler would say. You'd remember this after playing a few rounds and know it for yourself. Factors of strategy, luck and constant renewed interaction of the group makes Balzie the Cat a great game to have in your game collection.

Well... it's hard to say exactly when it started

Finale

This project comes to a final as far as our efforts go. The part we played in the creation process is done for now. We had great time and lots of fun creating it. We believe we did our part up to our abilities at the moment. There are for sure some stuff we could do better, just like anything we do in our lives. It's time we pass the ball to you in the creation process of Balzie the Cat. It continues with your part now...

It's your turn now

With your support, I hope we can bring Balzie the Cat into the reality of our lives and onto our tables.(Or carpets if you like to play on the floor or beds or anywhere else you like)

Again,many thanks for your support and interest in my first Kickstarter project! :)

Risks and challenges

Our biggest challenge was to start our campaign on kickstarter and since we started and have our prototype ready, we don't see much of a challenge left to successfully bring the game to the ones who supported us.
This is my first Kickstarter project, and I have full confidence in that you'd have tons of fun playing Balzie the cat with others. I've tried to make the best presentation and campaign that I'm capable of and I'm going to make it the best experience in my ability for everyone involved in this project; from manufacturing to delivering Balzie the cat to you.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge CA$ 100 or more
About $79

Ultimate Balzie Package *.*

• You'll get 3 Balzie the cat decks
• We'll also publish your name (or nick name) on our website as one of our top 21 ultimate supporter. The list will also be added into every game box!
• We'll also send you our love ♥ (Mucho love)